Broken
by plahbie
Summary: This is my first Fanfiction, I hope you like it! Please, please review! It's about Ariana Dumbledore and will continue to be updated. This will turn out to be more surprising than you think. What if Ariana had survived?
1. Chapter 1

_These characters and this universe are not mine and will never be mine, they belong to (Fanfare, Trumpets)_ _ **J.K. Rowling**_ _(Reverential Awe)._

 **Broken** by plahbie

Happiness. That's what I felt, always. I was regaled with stories of the world of Hogwarts, told that I, too, would one day follow the steps of my brother, Albus. I knew that, soon, I would show signs of my magic. So I waited.

One night, I was reading a book, or rather looking at the pictures of the book, and felt a strange, tingly feeling in my gut. It started with my hand. Then it slowly went up to the rest of my body. And I was happy. Rainbows were what covered me from head to toe, filling the room with a shimmering, ghostly light.

It might have been a dream, because for all the world I would never have hoped to see something like this. Slowly I creeped outside, my rainbows sparkling around me. I danced there, under the stars, rainbows spinning in a second, unearthly dance next to me.

A loud rustle from the bushes stopped me. I spun around, looking at the small, weedy section of plants in front of our house. A face stared back in shock. The face of a muggle.

I ran inside, blindly following, or trying to follow, the rule my parents had set long ago. The memory nagged at me until I gave in and allowed it to show me what it would.

" _You must never, never show your magic to a muggle. Muggles are also defenseless, so you must not use your magic on a muggle either."_ Her mother had intoned,in a voice as calm and dangerous as a viper before it strikes.

" _But why?"_ She had asked, in curiosity known to all of those who are but age six.

" _Just... Just because that is the rule."_ Kendra Dumbledore had floundered for a second, for once in her life not answering a question satisfactorily. Ariana went home with her curiosity piqued.

For this reason alone Ariana didn't tell anyone about the face in the bushes, watching her do magic. She was only eight. A tender age.

The next night she crept out quietly, to see if her rainbows would work again. A rustle. She spun around, but not quite quickly enough. A large hand covered her face, and she could no longer scream.

She was not dragged for a very long time. When she could see again, they were in a basement. Two boys sat near her, on chairs, and the 'interrogation' began.

"How did you do that, last night?" the one she had seen last night spoke in a clear, calm voice.

"Answer us!" said the large, meaty boy. Loudly.

Pain hit her stomach, and fists were slamming into her, yet still she did not answer. More pain this time, and she could feel her willpower fading. The pain just grew, her blood falling on the floor.

The questions had been asked, over and over again, but she could not answer. Suddenly, she glowed blue. The muggles stopped and stared, and her father burst through the flimsy door, hexes, curses, and jinxes flying everywhere. Ariana finally fell into oblivion.

When she woke up, the pain was gone. Where was she? A woman came in, accompanied by two boys. The younger one she recognized, and an unprecedented glee came from knowing this. The boy was Aberforth. Her one and only island in her storm.

"Ariana?" came a quiet voice from the other boy. Oh, yes! This must be Albus. Her other brother. Was Ariana her name? It might be. Brief memories flickered in the back of her mind of people calling that name in gentle voices.

Never mind that, though. The rainbows had fled.


	2. Chapter 2

My magic was trapped with me. At times of great emotion I was able to use my magic in short bursts, nothing like the way it had been before. I was broken, shattered into thousands of pieces. My father, Percival, was in prison for trying to stop the muggles from destroying me completely. I don't mean my body. I mean my soul. My innocent soul had been wounded grievously by the muggles who were just trying to find my rainbows, albeit roughly. My father had stopped them from completely destroying it, yet now I had to pick up the pieces of myself, and, like a never-ending jigsaw puzzle, fix it so that I was whole once more.

Aberforth tried to comfort me, unlike Albus, who had stayed at Hogwarts to continue studying. Not that I could blame him. When we all three were here together, my magic erupted and hurt someone. Albus may have power and knowledge, but I, as I had never gone to a school, had had to create my own spells. The only reason they didn't work was that my magic had been lost. Or at least hidden where I could not find it.

"No, dear, that is _not_ what you're supposed to be doing!" shrilled Kendra Dumbledore at yet another failed attempt at containing my magic. She was trying to teach me to lose it completely, so that I could no longer hurt them. Maybe a reason that I could not stop was that I wanted to find my magic once more, and in some hidden part of myself I realized that.

I tried to tell her. But my mouth was closed. I was shutting down once again. The inky blackness came and swallowed me, nightmares trailing behind it.

All the stories had been lies, cruel and unsavory. They had tempted me with tales of glory and happiness, but now I had realized how cruel the world was, and always had been. I would never get those chances, the ones with lies of a school of magic, waiting for me. It may exist, but I would never see it. It's doors were closed, and years passed in the same way.

I was 11. The day came, passed in hopeful expectation, and ended in pure dejection. My last hope had vanished.

Aberforth tried to comfort me, but the tremors in the earth warned him not to. The broken china and glassware on the floor told him that I needed some time alone. The streaking lights of color, malformed rainbows, dancing around the room convinced everyone that I was out of control.

Red waves enveloped me, demons dragging me down. Fire burned everywhere, and pain was all over me. I called out to the hidden light, the one thing that forced me to go on with this evil thing called life. It danced around me, ever out of reach. As I grabbed at it and missed, over and over again, one tired voice echoed.

" _Gone. Lost. Hidden. Out-of-reach. Killed. Maimed. Impaled. Dead. Asleep. Hurt. No point. Why? Missing. Extinct. Wasted. Misused. Astray. Forgotten. Neglected. Departed. Disappeared."_ whispered the voice, constantly giving those hurtful words, repeating them, never having one rainbow.

Ariana awoke with a gasp, her breath coming short. Fear enveloped her body, and she was adrift in her mind, not knowing what to look for. What was her name? Where had she gone? Did it matter? No. Would anybody care if she just... left? At this last question she started to remember; to care. Aberforth. His face came to her mind clear as day, her one solace in the world. He would care.

Gentle words came to her ears, and she looked up, frightened, as someone came near her. But it was just Aberforth. He hugged her, tears streaming down his face, as she came out of the corner and into his arms.

"I was afraid that... that you were gone. Gone forever." His face was wet with tears, and she was crying just from looking at him.

"You were so still. It was as if you were deciding if you should stay. Always stay. Please." He was starting to calm down.

The fires in my mind had been extinguished by the calm presence of Aberforth, and another attempt at getting my rainbows back had vanished. So I daydreamed. I imagined a cloudless night, the stars stretching out into the distance. I imagined my family together, with Percival, Albus, and Kendra all there together, with Aberforth and me. But most of all I imagined Hogwarts, with its gleaming majesty and endless magic, controlled by the firm hand of Armando Dippet, Headmaster.

I continually tried to use my magic, to the great distress of my mother, Kendra. I wanted to control my magic just like everyone else in my world could. But I never could catch that fleeting spirit, the one who shimmered in my darkness. The words of despair came over me, again and again, and I felt that it was affecting me. Nobody else noticed. Not even Aberforth.

Now the fires that burned around me when my magic erupted made me angry. Why were they there? I wished that they would disappear, but that just hurt even more people in the violent storms of magic.

"Now honey, you can't do that." Remonstrated my mother for the third time that day, as another fireball fell out of my hands and started burning the rug. My mother, without expression, put out the fire and repaired the damage.

"Remember, dear, you must not even think about magic, or have extreme emotions. These tend to set it off, and we don't want that, now do we, _dear_?" This last word seemed to be a little forced as my mother looked at me. The air was tinged with anger, and not mine.

She sighed and left the room, leaving me all alone. My relationship with her had grown increasingly tense as my magic refused to comply with her demands. I wanted to love her, but she was not... motherly.

My anger grew, unbidden. I tried to stop, but the magic completely overpowered me, and the inky tendrils of the darkness grabbed me once more. The fires burned, and I was afraid. The words echoed, but this time I felt something more.

The magic danced around me, ever out of reach, but this time, as I grabbed at it in vain, I touched... well, something. I looked down at my hand, and a part of the glimmering magic shone in my hands.

I woke with a start, and with a feeling of elation. Somewhere deep inside of me, I had regained just a little bit of what once was. A small sound followed this realization, and I found that a small, pitiful sound was coming from me. It soon fled, but the memory remained. Sound had come from me after years of hiding.

These were the thoughts that teased at me the next day, and the next. No more storms came, but Aberforth noticed something in me.

"What happened to you? You seem happier." he could not control his delight at this, and I was so hopeful for the future. Would the rainbows come once more?

Alas, all good things must come to an end.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I am SOOOOO late! I would love to tell you that I won't do this again, but alas! I am a procrastinator. Just... wait for a while each time I am done with another chapter, OK? I am very, _very_ sorry.**

There she was. So vulnerable. She caught his eye, and a glassy smile came over her. She didn't know, and would never know, how much he worried about her. Her magic was dangerous, and she hated hurting people. Aberforth turned around, blinking back tears. Why wouldn't Albus ever care for them? He was the oldest, and Kendra never did much for them. Some of his anger must have shown on his face, for when he turned around Ariana patted his arm in a comforting way. As if he was the one who needed comforting.

For lunch they ate a roll each. Ariana had to be fed the bread, even though it was soft. But Aberforth didn't care. He _was_ skipping school for her, anyway, so what did it matter that he had to feed her and tuck her in for bed and all that nonsense? It didn't. No matter how many times he asked himself if he would rather be doing something else, either shame of asking the question or an answer in the negative threw it away.

Albus kept trying to get him back in school, but he never answered these summons, always parrying by telling how Ariana needed _him_ , at the very least. This was true, for he was the only one that Ariana would ever listen to when she started a 'tantrum'. He knew that Ariana never wanted to do anything when she went into them, but she was unable to stop her contained magic from breaking out.

It was time for bed, so he sighed, pushing away his thoughts. He got up, going over to Ariana and shaking her lightly to see if she was awake. With her, you could never tell. She was asleep but woke up with a smile at the figure of Aberforth.

"Come on, sleepyhead. Time to go to bed for sleep." he murmured gently in her ear. She followed him slowly, as careful as a mouse. He tucked her into bed, blew out the candle, and watched her fall asleep. She was so fragile, like a china doll. Looking at her like this, he knew with all his heart that she needed him. He would never leave her.

The next day was horrible. It was one of her bad days, and the magic burst out when Kendra accidentally made her cry by telling her off several times. I ran into our kitchen, and saw her. The crying was getting more intense, and the magic was pouring out of her in waves. Fear was enveloping him, but not for himself; for her. She was hurting herself as well, not just the outside world. He ran forward, not caring about the flames or the electricity zapping out around them. He grabbed her, and held her close to him, just wanting it to stop.

" _Stop, stop, stop, STOP!"_ he was willing this to happen with all his might. He could feel her intensity dim, her magic weaken. Everything stopped. Then she collapsed in his arms, the fires going out with a noiseless _pop!_ All at once. He carried her up the stairs, as gentle as he could possibly be. Once he had deposited her in bed, he pulled a chair over and sat down anxiously. He hovered above her, jumping up at the slightest tremble or shiver.

Kendra came in, awoken from bed by the sound and commotion. She had never been stunning, but over the years, while taking care of Ariana, she had become more stressed; she always seemed worried, as if something terrible was perpetually about to happen. Being sick didn't help her looks at all.

Fear was in her eyes, fear of her own daughter. She saw Aberforth already there and practically ran from the room.

" _As if you care about your own daughter. You don't love her at all."_ Spiteful thoughts continued in Aberforth's mind, and his fists clenched in anger. Ariana moved slightly, her brow furrowing in sleep. Instantly he was back to her, taking care of her worriedly, all other thoughts flying from his mind. Her face became calm again, and he relaxed. Mostly.

When she woke and saw Aberforth above her, a smile came over her face once more, and, in return, a smile took over his face as well. He hadn't slept at all the night before, keeping a constant watch over Ariana. He took care of her instinctively, and never did it occur to him that he could leave her to his mother. She reached up with her hand, and started tracing his features silently. He smiled even more at this childish behavior, but behind this comforting facade he was pained, seeing how she would never get better.

He got her out of bed and brought her down to the kitchen. As Kendra had gotten sicker he had found himself needing to know how to cook meals, so with their meager amounts of food he began making eggs and bread. When he saw that Ariana was still very hungry after the portion that he had given her, he gave her his as well, helping her eat the food that he realized she needed more- much more- than he did.

He brought up the last part of the eggs and bread to Kendra. She was very sick, and they had no idea what with. They weren't well off even before Percival had been taken to Azkaban, but when he left they became destitute. They had no way of getting a healer, and even if they did have enough money, Ariana would be sent to St. Mungo's for life, and she would never survive an ordeal like that. He brought in the food, leaving it on the end of the bed when he saw her huddled form still underneath the blankets.

A twinge of pity was awakened in his heart, recognizing that she had a hard life, and that she was undernourished. Kendra had never had too much love piled upon her, and it had seemed like a lucky break when she married Percival, but then he was sent to Azkaban and had one child who needed constant care and another who was a bit of a hoodlum, never going to school and doing bad things with magic.

Aberforth left the room silently, and went down the stairs to his sister quickly, trying to escape the feeling of guilt awakened by the wasted form of Kendra


	4. Chapter 4

Years passed in this way. Ariana frequently had her 'tantrums', and they just increased in power. Albus was going on a trip around the world with his little follower, Elphias Doge. Leaving them all behind, again and again.

Aberforth had left the house, and was going to school once again, at his mother's and brother's insistence. So no one could calm Ariana.

Aberforth had no one who could comfort him when he heard. She may not have been the best, but she had been his _mother_. The letter came the next day.

 _'Dear Aberforth,_

 _We have discovered that your mother has passed from this world. The cause is still unknown, but it seems that she was killed by a large explosion. I have yet to discover what caused this fatal blast, but we will probably soon know. I am so very sorry to hear about her death, for now along with your tragic loss you must come home immediately. The funeral is set for the 3rd of November.'_ It was mercifully brief.

Aberforth knew exactly what had caused the explosion: Ariana. His heart was wrenching itself apart, for now he had no parents; he was an orphan. Would he have to go to a home? Then he remembered Albus. Albus would take care of them. Or would he?

For one moment spiteful joy swept through him, that Albus would have to give up his idiotic studies. The next second guilt struck his heart, for not thinking of his dead mother, instead thinking evil thoughts.

He went back to his village, and met Albus once again. He saw the resentment in his brother's eyes, saw that he would rather be studying, doing magic, learning. But we- his wayward brother and damaged sister- were his impedement. I saw how he hated us and loved us at the same time. So I hated him back. I never hid my contempt for his feelings about us.

Ariana always tried to stop us from fighting. Whenever she did, I stopped, and rushed to calm her. Only once did our intense arguing cause her to go off.

"You _hate_ us! You never try to help. You wish we were gone!" I half-yelled at my brother, anger flowing from every pore.

"Aberforth. I do not hate you nor do I hate Ariana. I try to help, but you never accept my help. I do not wish you were gone at _all_." Albus's infuriating calmness never failed to provoke Aberforth into blind rage.

"No you don't!" I hadn't realized that I was yelling. My throat was already becoming hoarse. A whimper came from the corner, and my head snapped around in the direction of the sound. Ariana was sitting there, holding her knees and rocking back and forth. Tears were dripping like a waterfall from her eyes, and that was all the warning we got.

Flame was everywhere. Pouring out of Ariana, into the room. Quickly, Albus started casting some kind of spell to quell the flames while I rushed to her. I didn't dare to touch her, for around us the windows were cracking and the floorboards were slowly prying themselves up from the floor.

So I spoke to her. Softly, I called out her name over and over again.

"Ariana. Wake up. It's all just a dream. Wake up." I called out to her, gently.

Finally, things started settling down. Ariana collapsed, and I ran over to her while Albus fixed the room, silently. I carried her up to her bed and soothed her when she woke up. I tried not to get into arguments with Albus anymore, but it was difficult.

Then _he_ came. With his I'm-so-much-better-than-you attitude, and his brains, Albus was instantly transfixed. Aberforth didn't trust him at all, seeing how he pulled Albus away from them, even farther than before. He may have had brains, but Aberforth had been nosing around, and had found out that he had been expelled from Durmstrang for practicing Dark Magic on his fellow students.

Due to this, Aberforth tried to keep Ariana away from him as much as possible, seeing as he visited almost every day. He rarely listened, but when he did they were usually talking about 'Hallows' and some other nonsense like that.

Gellert always tried to insult him, when he came down and they saw each other, about his brains. Only once did he strike out, and that ended in him nearly having the Cruciatus Curse put on him. Luckily, Albus, realizing what he was planning to do, stopped him, but it had been a close call. After weeks of trying to avoid looking at him, he looked into his eyes as Albus was talking about Grindelwald. And he realized exactly what had happened. It may have been a shock, but he had overcome it just like he usually did.

I tried to hex him. He blocked it with ease, and then...

" _Crucio!"_ A burst of light and then. Pain. After what seemed like hours, it finally stopped.

"Vell, vould you look at zat. The little girl is trying to protect him. Vould you like a taste of vat I gave him?" He sneered. I looked up from my place on the floor, and saw that his wand was pointed straight at Ariana.

"NO!" I roared, running into the path of the curse. Pain came once again, and someone was screaming. Was it me?

"Gellert! Stop it!" came a different voice, and the pain vanished.

I looked up. Albus was standing there, his wand drawn, and _pointing at Grindelwald._ I could barely follow the battle, but then I heard something else. Ariana. Her magic had gone off, and she was standing between the two of them. Flashes came from every direction, and darkness fell over me like a curtain.

" _Soft voices... Warmth... Where am I?"_ and then _"Ariana?"_ I jerked awake, and looked around for Ariana. I was in my bed, and I had startled Albus with my sudden movement.

His face was grave. "Ariana?" I asked weakly. Albus somberly shook his head. Darkness again.

I woke again, and remembered. It must have been a dream. The last thing I remembered was Ariana standing in between the two duelers, her magic pouring out of her. Where was she?

I walked out of the room, my room, in a trance. I spotted Albus sitting at the table, his head in his hands. Was he... crying? If so, I had almost no qualms about interrupting him.

"Where's Ariana?" I asked sharply, in order to get his attention. He looked up.

"Ariana... Ariana is... dead." he said croakily.

Darkness.


End file.
